Medhat al-Mahmoud, Iraq's Supreme Court top judge, speaks to the press in Baghdad, in June 2010. / Karim Kadim, AP

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

BAGHDAD (AP) - An Iraqi judicial panel has rejected a decision to remove one of the country's top judges from his post because of alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's regime.

Last week, the Justice and Accountability Committee tasked with purging government ranks of officials with ties to Saddam decided to remove judge Medhat al-Mahmoud who heads the Supreme Federal Court for his alleged role as an adviser to the late dictator.

The committee's deputy chief, Bakhtiar Omar al-Qadhi said on Tuesday that the cassation panel didn't find strong evidences of such ties and rejected the judge's dismissal.